A Guide on How to Start an E-Scooter Rental Business and How Much it Costs

Transportation is one of the major sources responsible for climate disruption through greenhouse gas emissions; contributes upto 25% of the global CO2 emission. To contribute to making a sustainable and healthy life for humans; industries have been pondering new eco-friendly transit solutions, especially for urban areas.  

How about creating a carbon-free future? Turning the gasoline-based engines into electric-powered batteries. 

Here comes the electric shared micro-mobility term. It is a way advanced sustainable factor to get placed around; replace any of the existing transportation modes.

The electric scooter rental business in the market gives plenty of opportunities to define the real transport landscape and gives mobility and agile solutions to people from different landscapes. The players in the market are alert and opportunistic enough to virtue their success in the market. 

Quick Glance:

This blog aims for business leaders, entrepreneurs, eco-friendly people who wish to start in the electric scooter industry and learn about new applications who already place themselves into the industry. Here, we have covered how to start an electric scooter rental business, the top 3 e-scooter rental operators in 2022, and quick assistance to create a similar app. 

Understand the meaning of E-scooter Rental Business

Going outside on a sunny dry day without your vehicle or conveyance. The time when you are looking for some convenient mode to travel. E-scooter sharing or rental business could be a renaissance idea for you. 

While keeping in mind the alert factors existing outside, EVs are eco-friendly and allow you and your audience to have a ride and have fun at the same time. 

The concept behind a two or three-wheel scooter is they are powered with electricity to store energy power the battery; used to run the scooter. The fun riding way is aligned with opportunities for both stakeholders and multimodal users. 

To start your e-scooter rental business, you need to focus on many certain things that could land your chances into the cake of success. Investing in the right thing makes your identity unique. 

What makes it interesting and popular for the industries to invest in E-scooter?

Why is there so much hassle and bustle for getting into the EV industry? 

Reasons could be many…but one is for sure, i.e. close to a nature-friendly solution. 

Today after the pandemic, people understand the importance of nature-friendly solutions to drive the mother earth sustainably. The times when we locked ourselves in our home may be painful to us but heal our nature so fast. The air became fresher; the sky became clearer, and the atmosphere is less infused with carbon footprint percentage. 

This brings out a plunge of opportunity to the ecologist and enthusiasts with more environment-friendly solutions in the app development for startups. 

Some of the other important factors are;

• License-free
• Low maintenance costs
• Budget-friendly batteries hit the market soon
• Fun and light way rides
• Environment savior
• Great alternative for LPG and gasoline

If you are in the mood to come up with some engaging and optimal solution, consider the above facts to gear up your app journey. 

Let’s check out the industry eyes on this niche, and where it will land in the coming years. 

Also, Read: E-Scooter App Development Cost, Features – You Can’t Miss

Why plan an E-scooter business in 2022?

‘The auto-industry would have seen huge changes in the next 10 years than it has changed in the 50 years. ‘ This is how General Motors CEO Mary Barra sees transformation in the automobile industry. 

Almost the majority of the world’s top leaders are investing in electric vehicles.

If we are talking about India, Bajaj and Heroes both are outstanding leaders in motor and vehicles already, willing to stagnant their position in this similar industry. In fact, the cost of ICE plated vehicles tends to be high compared to eco-friendly solutions like e-scooters, bikes, etc, due to the fall in the price of batteries. This is beneath many two-wheeler companies into the range of manufacturing the e-scooter units. 

Hence, it is a wonderful moment for you as a business to invest in this eco-friendly world of electric scooter rental business plans. 

Let’s dive more into the stats & growth size of the e-scooter industry herein. 

Market Stats for the Electric Scooter in 2022

• The global market for two-wheeler electric vehicles is estimated to reach $22B in the forecast period of 2017-24.
• The market is projected to serve more than 125M users by 2026, in its niche segment; with user penetration of 1.6%.
• In FY20,  according to Mckinsey the overall growth in e-scooter sales was found to be less than 1% which is going to see a huge push to reach from 4M to 5M or 25-30% growth in FY25. 
• Talking about the market share of the e-scooter or bike, Hero-Electric is on the top with a ratio covering 30% of the market. Okinawa Autotech touched 20% of the market in 2021. 
• OLA Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd, Ather Energy, expanding their market. This unicorn is planned to manufacture 0.11M of 2-wheelers/year. 
• Ninebot, a 6-year-old firm, sales grew by 6x in 2021 with an estimated value of $1.5B. It is now renowned as the world’s largest shortest distance transit manufacturer in the world. Their next segment in the run is Drift W1 e-skates. 

Quick assistance and procedure to run E-scooter at your bay

While sneaking into this light vehicle EV industry; it is important to recap some of the following measures. What are they and how does electric scooter rental work, here are the pinpoints.

1. Make sure that the EV should follow proper rules and regulations. 
2. Quick support within 2 hours if the e-scooter needs any repair.
3. Working People prefer to travel at night. They do have long shifts, in such cases e-ride makes them comfortable to reach their destination. 
4. The minimum operating speed for e-scooters is 20mph. 
5. Begin from the registration process and let the users verify the profile
6. Turn on GPS to find out the nearest e-scooter rental vehicle. 
7. Schedule a ride and check the exact price next to it. 
8. Reach the nearest location, pick the scooter; unlock it via QR code. 
9. In the end, place the vehicle at the destined location, lock it via QR code. 

Features required to build E-scooter rental business

• Integration of Map: The map allows people to search nearby places where scooters are available. That makes it easy for users to pick the rental scooters from their nearest locations. 
• Authenticate via QR codes: QR codes keep the system fully secured. Smart access to the vehicle makes it uncatchable to hackers for any mischief. Via just one tap, registered users can lock or unlock the scooters. 
• Tracking with GPS: Every smartphone is imbibed with a GPS feature, which helps to find the shortest route for the user to reach the destination within a short time. Users can track the parking area corresponding to that. 
• Integrate with payment gateways: Multiple payments options make it super fast for riders to pay for their ride without any hassle. 
• Multiple language support: Those who are unaware of any other language than their local ones feel quite hard to use the app. In that case, the local language support system makes it easy and convenient for them. 
• Cardless lock: Users can lock their scooters through the mobiles, making them more protected. 

Also, Read – All-Inclusive car wash application development service at a cost-effective price.

How to build an E-scooter rental business successfully?

How to start a scooter rental business? Understand the pinpoints for proceeding with your application. 

1. What challenges could the industry face?

Clear planning makes it easy for your business to land at the right ounce of point. At the beginning phase, you could face many challenges, like which demographics are correct for you to start so your business would not face any limitations; dealing with accidents to repair damaged scooters, and how to cycle the capital to start your business. Predict the level of competition the niche industry is already facing. 

Figure out any economic analysis before, limiting yourself from any of the issues that could arise in the future. 

2. Research the market from every perspective

Why you should research before taking any lead into the market of the e-scooter rental business? The reason is simple: whether your state allows for e-scooter or vehicles running on the roads.

For Ex; In the UK, there is a ban for riding EVs on public roads, there is a fine for the same. While in New York, you can run a vehicle on roads, but have to maintain a speed of at least 25km. 

3. Select the best spot for your business

Finding the best spot to start your business is one of the important points you should focus on before mobile application development or web development. It is important that the higher the traffic, the higher the chance for you to keep spreading your business. 

For your idea; we suggest that for the question ‘how to start an electric scooter business ‘ start your services either at the hot spot to possibly get maximum traffic or to start it with a tourist place, where there’s an easy way to get your customers into the drive. 

Also, people be aware of electric scooter usage, how it is safer for transit and keeps a social distance. Let your suggestions help the people to reach you out and use this eco-friendly option in their daily wage. 

4. Keep high investments

Deciding on the investment is very crucial. You should always have some extra penny in your pockets for delivering quality services to your audience. 

Suppose you want to start your business with 30 e-scooters. And the cost of every scooter is around $50. Then the total cost will go upto $1500. That can vary to $100 more or less. Plus, you should have some proportion for accidental damage, maintenance, feature addition, and any scope that would make your product a great one. 

5. Accompany with repudiated company 

A successful repudiated company aligns your potential business into a higher edge. Your primary goal in the business is to stay in it for long. For that case, you must collaborate with companies that have had greater ethics and productivity in the past. 

You can start by researching and surveying some reputed companies on Linkedin, Clutch, or Glassdoor. Filter the one with your choice, you will leave out some best sources. Now, check their past work and reviews. For more information, make your inquiry to their consultation and support assistance team. Bring out your ideas to them, and understand their strategies, how they can fit into your business. Make sure their customer experience after-sales are as great as in the beginning and meanwhile. 

6. Market and advertise your platform to niche and potential audience

Your only purpose is to market as much escape as possible. Your brand value captures the audience’s attention. Search on the leading searching websites like google, social media like Facebook, Instagram, etc to let people know about your services and how it is beneficial and cost-effective to use them. 

Spread out your brand brochures, business cards to the nearby local shops, hotels, malls, or public places. Give them a free trial so that maximum exposure to your brand can be set.  

The whole idea is about how much you could spread out your e-scooter rental business to the people. You can hire some IT or marketing company for your promotion as well. 

7. Place adequate platform for supportable batteries 

In no case, you would want your vehicle to stop in the middle. This could turn users into vain. Ideally, the running capacity of a vehicle depends on the weight of the user’s body. If the user is heavy chances are the e-scooter could stop earlier. If you could place a charging station every 5-10kms; that would be a good point for users to travel without any pain. 

Monitor your vehicle condition after every trip to limit any trouble or cause. 

8. Integrate your app with the best integration policies

It is always great to keep some policies in your hand to limit any unconditional mishappening. Insurance is the one thing that is important to have, to avoid risk factors connected with the e-rider. That will also entrust him for safe riding. 

Some of the policies are

i) Property insurance

ii) Mechanical breakdown

iii) General liability insurance

iv) Product liability insurance

A great rental business company could help you with every deed of the mobile app development process. 

Technical Stack required for the E-scooter Business

The technical stack with a mobile app development company is an important aspect filled with important features and technologies. The manufacturing of the EV and making it worth functional depends on many factors; 

Mainly depends on: 

• Programming development platforms: Angular, React, Swift, Java, C-objective
• Payment channel: Stripe, Braintree, e-wallet app development
• Database architecture servers: Mysql, MongoDB, Postgres, 
• Real-time analytics for insight: Spark, Hadoop, IBM, and Big Data
• Cloud environment: Amazon Web Services, Apache Server, Google Drive, Azure
• Email marketing: Mailchimp Integration

This is how the technicalities infused and hence the question ‘how to start a scooter rental company is now answerable. 

Read More: How Much It Cost to Develop a Bike Sharing App like Mobike

Cost to develop the E-scooter Rental Business 

Cost depends on the nature, features, modifications, technical stack, software expenses, and support to run the application under every circumstance. 

Start with the software expenses, let understand the area where the cost will be a crucial factor. 

1. Cost for inventory: max cost $5k
2. The upfront cost for storage: max cost $5k
3. File hosting service: max cost $299
4. Email marketing tool: max cost $100
5. Accounting and invoicing software: max cost $50
6. Advertising: max cost $300

On concluding everything, the cost rises to some level. For the basic level, the cost of the e-scooter rental app business would cost you around $25k to $35k. And the advanced application goes to $50k-$55k. 

Popular E-scooter Rental Applications 

1. Bird: 

Bird is known to be the top name in the e-scooter rental, with eco-friendly solutions for their users. Bird aims to reduce the carbon footprint from the globe, and continuously comes up with idealistic solutions to retain large people in the market. 

You can prevail few of the latest features while using the app;

1. Smart lock facility
2. Indulge real-time accessibility via GPS
3. Integrate with QR code 
4. Track your route with maps

2. Lime:

Your care-free option of all time; Lime, set its benchmark in the world not from today but since its arrival. Today, marking its presence in more than 150+ cities, it covers a wide range of vehicles like scooters, bikes, and mopeds. 

Lime always gives the cliche to its user with its budget-efficient option. Whether you are running errands, traveling to other cities, or commuting to work. Lime gives you ‘n’ number of options for your riding. While taking all the rules necessary before travel. 

Lime has some of the great features reside in the app;

1. Unlock your trip via QR code scanner
2. Make payments secure 

3. Spin:

At spin, you can ride with e-scooters without any worry in mind. Spin gives the way you want to move in this world. Composed with many options and features, you can travel via your moped and enjoy the clean part of the air. 

Spin facilitates its user with a few features including;

• Smart QR code locks
• Faster payment gateways
• Add your social accounts to share all your fun ride activities with your friends.

Future of E-Scooter Worldwide

Every one of us is facing the front for some positive hope. That is the future. E-scooter have nerve hooking options to serve the people and to mother nature. After 50 years from now, we will have pure soil to breathe, we will not be left with a fresh residue of gasses or fossil fuels. The only option we would have at that time is a conventional and eco-friendly way to ride or travel. 

Electric mode is one such sector. However, the way we all are unnecessary using energy resources and especially water, it would also be nonjudgemental to assure electric vehicle future. 

Related Post: Motorbike Rental App Development Cost & Key Features

Still, in recent times, new leaders come up with research and mindfulness to hope for good scope inside this industry. 

• Ola electric planning to the proposed future factory, in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, to be completed in the last year. 
• It is supposed to be termed as the world’s largest two-wheeler factory with an investment of $2.4crore. 
• Etergo is a Netherlands-based electric bike claimed to run at top speed and cover 250 KM in one charge. 
• Bajaj, with its Chetak avatar, hit the bush of electric vehicles in January 2020. 
• Flipkart plans to deliver its EVs sales with more than 25k by 2030 in the market. 
• Ninebot Inc., silently becoming the leader in electric scooters, in the US. rise is due to micro-mobility. Aim to offer low-cost transit operations than cars or others. 
• *Salt batteries; Chinese and British researchers have been working on salt-infilled batteries that could accelerate electric transit on the roads; possibly a great factor for the green mode to travel. 
• **Last but not least, dynamic induction charging. This gives us a glimpse of how vehicles could charge while driving themselves. If this could happen, then it will cut down the need for higher-capacity batteries and charging stations. 
• Continuing to the above concept, the Israeli smart road startup’s first pilot project, ElectReon, builds an electrified road of 1.6km to charge the vehicle while in motion. 

Related Post: Automotive Mobile App Development

Final Thoughts!

To get instant success in the market, there are no shortcuts. You should stay alert and provide sound services to the people. Let them speak for your product quality and features. 

Custom Application Development sorts out your planning and reverts it into conveyable information and service to the customers. So don’t stake yourself under bushes, land into this uprising business of an economical and eco-friendly market.